What is a pieced quilt?
A quilt is a type of blanket, made up of three separate layers sometimes called a sandwich - the top or front (usually sewn together - pieced - from smaller pieces of fabric to make a design); the middle batting (the fluffy part that gives a quilt its warmth and weight); and the bottom or back/backing. My quilts usually have a whole cloth backing, meaning they are made of one or two pieces of fabric of the same color and do not have a pieced pattern like the top. All three quilt layers are attached together using the technique called quilting - this is essentially sewing the layers together to make one object. The edges are then finished with another piece of fabric called the binding - this strip of fabric is sewn on the top of the quilt sandwich and wraps around the raw edge of the quilt. Once the binding is sewn down by hand on the backing, the quilt is complete.
What books should I read?
Empire of Cotton: A Global History by Sven Beckert
Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell
Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000 by Roderick Kiracofe
Amish Crib Quilts from the Midwest: The Sara Millier Collection by Janneken Smucker
Abstract Design in American Quilts: A Biography of an Exhibition by Jonathan Holstein